West Milford High School principal’s goals range from SATs to Twitter

High School Principal Paul Gorski is thinking long-term in his first full year at the helm.

On Dec. 3, West Milford’s former testing coordinator and K-12 supervisor of social studies revealed his action plan for 2013 and beyond to school board officials.

The goals are about more than just scores, he said. However, they start there.

Gorski noted that improving results on standardized assessments is important for the school’s standing and its students’ preparedness. The high school is the last stop for West Milford’s students. It is where the district’s educational conveyor belt ends and "where the results come to bear," Superintendent James McLaughlin said.

Gorski said his administration is always seeking ways to improve scores, most conspicuously at the state level, because "we’ve never reached exactly where we need to be."

Following his appointment in September 2011, the school has displayed some noteworthy gains in state standardized tests. In the end-of-course biology exams for 9th- and 10th-grade students, the high school’s general education students logged a proficiency rating of nearly 76 percent in the spring. That was a 12-percent gain from 2011 and represented a 7-percent margin above comparative schools in West Milford’s district factor group (DFG). That group includes Lakeland, Pompton Lakes, and Vernon.

The Class of 2013 exhibited similar improvements on both the language arts and math portions of the state’s High School Proficiency Assessments (HSPA), Gorski said. Both managed to better the prior year’s proficiency ratings, while topping the DFG average.

Still, Gorski said there are several areas in need of improvement, particularly in its special education math instruction. Scores dipped from the Class of 2012 to the Class of 2013. The latter’s scores were also below the DFG average, he said.

On the other end of the spectrum, Gorski said he also wants to improve his students’ advanced proficiency ratings, which also have less favorable comparisons within the DFG.

He warned against getting bogged down in teaching for the test, however, as the current freshman class will take something much different from the HSPA that is "really going to change the way we think about what a test actually is."

Beyond the HSPA, Gorski said he is keen on helping students better their SAT and ACT scores, which were below the state average in both language arts and math.

"We can never be satisfied with our SAT scores," Gorski said. "We want to increase student exposure to [the ACT] and prepare for that test earlier on."

Prior to Thanksgiving, the school administered a practice ACT exam for its students. Next year, Gorski said the school is likely to add a pre-ACT exam for its 10th-grade students as part of a plan to get more students gravitating toward that test, which he called "another important measure" for college-preparatory students.

College readiness is a consistent theme for Gorski, who said he wants to add subject-based assessments mid-unit. This would allow teachers to get feedback and evolve lesson plans based on absorption rates, especially when mastery of one concept is vital to understanding the next, he said.

Curriculum sharing among teachers and gains in AP enrollment are also on Gorski’s checklist alongside other administrative tasks. Examining the master schedule to provide students more opportunity and create more efficient educational sessions is something that will be dedicated some time in the months ahead. So are increasing the use of educational technology; revising the school’s code of conduct to the benefit of students, teachers, and parents through the use of progressive discipline; and improving school security and communications through social media.

McLaughlin said he has great hopes for the future of the school. The first-year superintendent said he is confident that the school can reach its goals sooner rather than later due to the "enthusiasm and devotion" of the staff.